Slight Detour: Wonders of the Morning

The photos of these birds are slightly grainy.

They were taken before 5 a.m. this morning as I was walking back to the house with the dogs.

I heard some fluttering in the service-berry bush.

Upon stopping and looking closer, I discovered that several cedar waxwings had arrived and were enjoying an early breakfast of immature service berries.

So, I grabbed my camera, and as they flitted from limb to limb, I captured a few photos.

They are gone now, probably headed off for a bush somewhere else for brunch.

Before seeing the waxwings, I enjoyed a peacock sighting in Pasture No. 2. Or, so I thought.

Twasn't until my second trip outside that I discovered that what I thought were peacocks were actually turkeys.

Earlier I had not gotten a full view, just the heads popping up and down in the grass.

An added bonus came on this second trip when I saw a turkey lying on the ground facing me right next to the gate for the pasture where the horses would be going.

She stared at me as I approached and soon the bonus emerged out from underneath Mom.

She was protecting two babies, but the babies decided it was time to come out from their safe space and trot on down the lane. Mom followed.

When I went to open the gate, I saw another turkey and soon a lone baby racing nervously around the shelter ground beneath the shelter. They soon found their way to the hay field, and all was well.

All was NOT well, however, when I did my morning watering, which is always filled with pleasant discoveries of growth or new plants emerging from beneath the soil.

Most of what I've planted in the manure pile garden has come up. Some is fenced with netting; some is not.

So, this morning my discoveries included evidence of a few overnight incursions.

All will be fenced with netting before nightfall, as the deer came calling last night and snipped off the tops of a couple of potatoes and pulled a baby pumpkin plant from the dirt. They had to climb up the dirt pile to do that.

I told Bill that I actually had held out hope that it would take a while for the deer to discover my young garden plants. Silly me.

So, I'll go down to Co-Op this morning and buy some more netting.

BTW: the dream of saving money by growing our own food vanished long ago. Instead, I like to suggest that it tastes so good that it's worth all those extra expenses.

In addition to that, this year I simply want to win the annual game between me and the deer and the vermin. I want to harvest full grown food which will not be eaten until humans take a bite.

The deer have all the grass in the world around here, so I won't feel sorry that I'm keeping them from enjoying their summer meals at my expense.

BTW: more netting will be needed soon for the blueberry bushes. After years of no problems, the deer struck last year and emptied a couple of bushes of berries.

While I've been typing this morning's post, Bill has yelled up to me twice about deer showing up in the yard just south of the house.

The first visitors included a mama and her twin fawns. I raced downstairs with my camera and was able to catch a mediocre image of her as she ran into the woods with her babies.

Hopefully, we'll see them again----NOT in the gardens.

A little later, Bill yelled, "More deer . . . two of them."

I'm just wondering if they're out there gathering intelligence on where the best eats are for tonight's pillage.

Ahhh, the fun of summer where "gotcha" can have two meanings, depending on if you are the garden pilferer or the victim armed with netting or fence materials and seeking revenge!

Looks like another busy day ahead taking care of the garden and seeing that the invaders keep teeth off from the pumpkins and blueberries.

Happy Friday. Life is always fun on the farm.